By Willie Barrere
National President
Greetings everyone. As many of you know, and the rest will soon find out, this is an election year for AMO. Due to house rules, this must be my last column until the election cycle concludes. More information about the upcoming election is on page 5 of the AMO newspaper and has been sent by email and posted on our website.
We currently have numerous opportunities coming up for growth, with several ongoing conversations. However, due to non-disclosure agreements in place, we can’t announce details at this time.
That said, I don’t want to grow AMO at the expense of the other unions – it should be all of us working and thriving together. I know not everybody feels this way, but the majority do. The potential for this is outlined in the SHIPS Act in Congress and in the administration’s Maritime Action Plan. Growing the U.S. fleet should not be dog eat dog. This looks bad for both labor and industry.
I recently spoke with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy about the current status of the maritime industry and the U.S.-flag fleet. He stated we are currently holding, with a plan in place to expand. In our conversation, I emphasized cargo is key to ship-count expansion.
Although the administration is keen to build more vessels and revitalize our nation’s shipbuilding capabilities, this will take years, whereas an increase in cargo – Defense Logistics Agency cargo, 100 percent cargo preference for government-impelled cargo like PL 480, and LNG exports with some form of U.S.-flag participation – can generate immediate gains for our national ship count. This message needs to be conveyed at all levels and we will work to do so.
We need to work together to educate our industry leaders. As we go to press, AMO, along with more than 100 industry leaders and representatives, will be attending the maritime industry’s Sail-In this week on Capitol Hill to educate our elected representatives on what we do for national defense and national supply-line security. AMO and others are involved in numerous conversations to grow this industry.
In the next few months, you will see continued collaboration between AMO and MEBA, and hopefully MM&P. We must have partnerships moving forward. The ‘fight everyone’ mentality needs to be put to rest.
You will see some changes in our digital media and outreach. Our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram accounts are getting more focus, and the STAR Center website will be undergoing renovation. We would like more engagement from the membership, with more articles on maritime lifestyle. MEBA is doing something similar as we work together to market our industry nationwide. The opportunities in the U.S. fleet are not headlining the lists of highest-paying jobs out of college – this needs to be addressed.
We are doing very well with recruiting and we are focused on obtaining more jobs for our membership and growing our industry as a whole.
As we go into election season, I encourage you all to be cognizant of the rules for voting and I urge you all to exercise your right to vote. We usually have about 30 percent participation from our membership. This is our union. Let’s have good dialogue and an excellent turnout.